Council Members Vow Court Fight over Regional Water Board Ban on Septics

n Hold Out Hope that State Board Will Overrule L.A. Panel

BY BILL KOENEKER

The newly installed mayor of Malibu, Sharon Barovsky vowed at this week’s city council meeting to take the fight with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to court if the city could not get the state board to overturn the regional board’s decision about a septic system ban in the Civic Center and surrounding areas.
“I hope the state board will listen, if not, there is no question in my mind we will go to court, probably for the next five to six years,” Barovsky said, during council comments on the results of last week’s water board decision.
City Attorney Christi Hogin had earlier explained that the regional board’s decision will go before the state board, much like an LCP amendment would go before the California Coastal Commission for certification.
“The next step is it goes to the state board automatically. Until we exhaust those remedies, we cannot litigate,” Hogin said.
Councilmember Andy Stern called the regional board meeting “an embarrassment.” Stern maintained the RWQCB staff had asked the city to bring along the scientists and professionals to give oral testimony about their research findings.
“We spent all of that money and had the professionals there,” said Stern, who noted the board instead was told to have the testimony stricken from the record. “That is not good public service. It is an embarrassment.”
“When people ask me where this is going, I don’t know. What if the voters say no to an assessment district? Does the RWQCB have the right to tell everybody to leave their buildings? They can’t tell us what to do. We are stepping into a very uncertain future,” Stern concluded.
Councilmember John Sibert took the water board to task for what he called practicing bad science. “They were rationalizing the data for a pre-determined outcome. That really bothers me,” said Sibert. “We have to pursue other remedies. I agree with Andy, this is really stepping off the cliff.”
Sibert said, despite what the city has been called by its detractors, Malibu has done so much to clean up the water.
Barovsky agreed, adding how Malibu has spent more money per capita on clean water projects than any other city in the state.
The new mayor went on to complain about how the city had gone to the board with a plan that addressed all of the problems concerning the lagoon and Surfrider Beach. “And believe it or not, Heal the Bay supported it. I was really surprised. Then at the eleventh hour they come up with their own plan. I don’t know why,” she said.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich talked about the public’s misperception of how the City of Malibu must be rich like some of its residents. “Under LAFCO, the city only gets seven percent of the property taxes. That amounts to $3-5 million per year. We are not this rich city. We are looking at an unfunded mandate.”
Conley Ulich, who said what she feared most was the solid economics of the city’s current picture turning sour in the next couple of years, if the city is saddled with a $50 million mandate. She added, “I fear that in two years the city won’t be as economically sound.”
Conley Ulich noted that she was disappointed the board refused to look at the data that suggested there are fewer A grades and more flunking grades on the weekly beach report card in Santa Monica where they have sewers than in Malibu. “We have to start preparing for our own battle,” she concluded.